Dental syringe



Sept. 17, 19 68 R. A. BEU 3,401,691

DENTAL SYRINGE Filed Dec. 2, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 mvsm'on. R/cHA RD A. 550

A TToRNE Y5 Sept. 17, 1968 Filed Dec. 2, 1964 R. A. BEU

DENTAL SYRINGE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. P/CHARD A 5511 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,401,691 DENTAL SYRINGE Richard A. Ben, Eggertsville, N.Y., assignor to Hanan Engineering Company, Inc, Bufialo, N.Y. Filed Dec. 2., 1964, Ser. No. 415,229 4 Claims. (Cl. 128-1731) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A dental implement for ejecting water, air or an airwater spray through a nozzle has a pair of adjacent push buttons to provide water or air to the nozzle. The maximum range of movement of the air push button is equal to a fraction of the full range of movement of the water push button whereby joint depression of both push buttons to the maximum range of movement of the air push button moves the water push button only fractionally to produce a properly proportioned water-air spray, each push button being separately operable to provide either air or water discharge alone.

This invention relates to dental or surgical implements and more particularly to a hand device for ejecting streams of water or air or an air-water spray into a patients mouth or for analogous dental or medical uses.

Reference is had herein to the use of the device of the present invention, particularly in the practice of dentistry since it is customary for dentists to cleanse an area where work has been or is being performed by the use of a water stream or an air-water spray and a stream of air is commonly used to dry a work area. Dentists frequently employ two separate devices for these related purposes, a water syringe and an air jet device. Some modern dental hand pieces such as are used for drilling are provided with air or water connections for cooling the tool and for preventing overheating of the tooth being Worked upon. While these devices commonly discharge air or water into the patients mouth they do not perform the functions of water and air discharge devices such as are contemplated in the present invention.

A dental syringe for directing streams of water or air or both into a patients mouth is shown and described in Patent No. 3,054,402 dated Sept. 18, 1962, to Edmond I. Franwick and the present applicant and the present invention are concerned with syringes of this general type. In the syringe of the foregoing patent three different uses are provided for, namely, a water stream discharge, an

air stream discharge, or a water-air spray. Proper selection of any of these three modes of operation is by selective depression of three manual buttons, singly or in various combinations.

The emission of a water stream or an air-Water spray is characterized by the fact that a lesser volume of water is required for the spray than for the straight Water stream. The present invention provides a dental syringe wherein all of the desired modes and degrees of emission are available but in which only two manual push buttons are required. Depression of either push button by itself gives either a water stream or an air stream and the water stream can be regulated from zero to maximum by the degree to which the water push button is depressed.

For emitting an air-water spray both push buttons are simultaneously depressed and the limit of movement of the air push button is such that the movement of the water push button automatically stops at a partial Water discharge position which is compatible with the production of a suitable air-water spray. This not necessarily so but will normally result since the user will normally simultaneously depress the closely adjacent push buttons with the same finger or thumb in producing a water-air spray. Convenient means for latching the push "buttons in various positions of operation are also provided.

The present invention provides a very simple multiple purpose dental syringe which operates in a safe, convenient and foolproof manner and which may be instantaneously employed by the dentist to perform the three basic functions, water cleansing, air drying, and the emission of a water-air spray for additional cleansing or clearing operations.

The utility and versatility of the dental tool of the pres ent invention will be explained more fully in connection with a detailed description of an exemplary form of such tool which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in detail in the following specification. However, it is to be understood that such embodiment is set forth primarily to illustrate and exemplify the principles of the invention and that the scope of the latter is not limited to the precise form thus disclosed, nor otherwise than as defined in the appended claims.

While the device of the present invention is designed and intended primarily for use by dentists and dental technicians for oral cleansing and drying operations and the foregoing discussion is directed particularly to its use for such purposes, it is to be understood that the device may find analogous uses in other surgical or therapeutic fields.

Certain variations and possibilities in the mode of use of the device of the present invention which may be attained and practiced by various flow adjustments and various manipulations of the device will be better understood after an understanding of the mechanism of the exemplary form set forth herein. For this reason a further discussion of such various adjustments and modes of use is set forth at the end of this specification following the detailed description of the form of the device illustrated in the drawings by way of example.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a general side elevational view of one form of the dental syringe of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross sectional view of the syringe shown in FIG. 1 taken somewhat irregularly but generally as indicated by the line IIII of FIG. 3;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the syringe shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal cross sectional view taken approximately on the line IV-IV of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross sectional view taken approximately on the line V-V of FIG. 3.

Like characters of reference denote like parts throughout the several figures of the drawings and the numeral 10 designates a body member having a tubular downward extension 11 threaded thereto and forming a handle portion and a housing for enclosing water and air conduits and electrical connections which extend outwardly from the body member. For convenience the portion of the dental syringe depicted in the drawings which is at the right hand side of FIGS. 1 and 2 shall be referred to as the front of the device and the portion shown to the left of those figures will be referred to as the rear of the device.

As appears most clearly in FIG. 4, body member 10 has an upright generally cylindrical forward portion 12 and a pair of adjacent generally cylindrical rear portions 13 and 14, the three portions forming a three-lobed or trefoil shaped body in horizontal cross section. The cylindrical portions 13 and 14 of body member 10 are vertically bored to form valve chambers 15 and 16, respectively, for controlling the flow of water and air, respectively, as will presently appear.

It will be noted that the bores 15 and 16 extend entirely through the body member and the arrangement is such that fabrication of the body member 10, by ma- 3 chining, die-casting, molding or other methods, is greatly simplified. Furthermore, the arrangement is such that either of the valve assemblies may be simply assembled into or disassembled from the body member without disturbing the remainder of the device, thus facilitating maintenance when required.

The front cylindrical portion 12 extends upward somewhat higher than the rear portions 13 and 14 as clearly appears from FIG. 1 and the upper end of portion 12 is fitted with a combined water-ejecting, air-ejecting and air- Water spray emitting nozzle assembly designated generally by the numeral 20 in FIGS. 1 and 2. Referring to FIG. 2, the nozzle 26 comprises an outer air conduit member 21 and an inner water conduit member 22, the walls of the two conduits being radially spaced to provide an intervening annular air passage.

At the outer end of the nozzle the water conduit 22 extends beyond the outer end of the outer air conduit 21 and a threaded ferrule 23 defines the end of outer conduit member 21 and may be adjusted axially to modify the air-water spray characteristics of the syringe. The conduit members 21 and 22 are fitted to the upper end of body portion 12 and are held in place by a gland type of retaining nut 25.

Body portion 12 is provided with a vertical water passage bore 26 clearly shown in FIG. 2 and a generally upward air passage bore 27 which will be referred to later herein. The water passage bore 26 communicates with the interior of inner conduit 22 and the air passage bore 27 communicates with the annular space between the outer and inner conduits 21 and 22. The construction of nozzle 20 and the mode of water and air communication thereto is not novel to the present invention and may, if desired, be the same as in the aforesaid patent to Franwick et al.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the lower end of the portion 12 of body member is provided with a water inlet bore 30 and an air inlet bore 31. The lower ends of the bores 30 and 31 are fitted, respectively, with flexible water supply and air supply conduits, the former being shown in detail at 33 in FIG. 2. The water and air supply flexible conduits are attached to the bore portions 30 and 31 of body member 10 by conventional nipple and gland nut connection devices designated generally by the reference numerals 34 and 35, respectively, in FIG. 2.

The water inlet bore 30 and the air inlet bore 31 lead to the valve chambers and 16, respectively, by way of horizontal bores designated 38 and 39, respectively, the horizontal water bore 38 being shown in cross section in FIG. 2. The water valve chamber 15 communicates with the vertical water passage bore 26 which leads to the discharge nozzle by way of a pair of horizontal passages 40 and 41 which are clearly shown in FIG. 2. Each of the passages 40 and 41 is provided with adjustable needle valves 42 and 43, respectively, which control the effective flow orifices of these passages to establish maximum flow capacities for the passages 40 and 41.

The air valve chamber 16 communicates with air passage 27 which leads to nozzle 20 by way of a horizontal passage 44 which is controlled by a needle valve 45 as shown in FIG. 4, likewise to establish maximum air flow capacity of passage 44. Air passage 27 which is shown only partially in FIG. 2 extends obliquely from horizontal air passage 44 to the inner end of nozzle 20. Fluid flow through the water and air valve chambers is manually selectively controlled by valves designated 47 and 48, respectively. The valves 47 and 48 are identical in the illustrated instance merely for interchangeability and mass production, since their actual valving operation is somewhat different, as will appear.

Each of the valves 47 and 48, which comprise stem members disposed coaxially in the valve chambers 15 and 16, respectively, is provided with a pair of O-rings 50 at its upper end which seals the respective valve chambers at their upper ends. The lower ends of the valve chambers are sealed by screw members 51 which likewise include packing rings or sealing members in the form of O-rings 52. The lower ends of the valve chambers have enlarged portions which form annular valve seats 53 and 54 and the valves 47 and 48 are provided with valve elements which in the present instance are in the form of O-rings designated 55 and 56, respectively.

In addition to the valve seat and valve element designated 53 and 55, respectively, the valve 47 is provided with an O-ring 57 which seats snugly in the upper portion of valve chamber 15 as shown in FIG. 2 but is adapted to move downwardly into an enlarged portion of valve chamber 15 upon downward movement of valve 47. The corresponding O-ring of the valve 48 serves no function. The upper ends of the valves 47 and 48 have threaded thereon manipulating buttons designated 60 and 61, respectively.

The upwardly extending portion of body member 10 is provided at its rear face with a pair of horizontal slots 63 and 64. It will be noted that the head portions of the operating buttons 60 and 61 are non-circular whereby the buttons may be depressed and rotated to engage their head portions in the slots to lock the respective valves in depressed positions. The head portion of button 60 of valve 47 is shown thus engaged in FIG. 3.

The valves 47 and 48 are normally biased to the upper limit positions illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 by coil springs and 66, respectively, in which position the valves 55 and 56 are closed. The slots 63 and 64 in body member 10 provide for two open positions of valve 47 but only one open position of valve 48 is desired, that in which the flange of button 61 is in registry with slot 63, since in such position the valve 48 is fully open. Accordingly a cup-shaped member 68 is disposed in body member and its upper rim portion limits downward movement of button 61 to the position shown in FIG. 5, in which figure the water operating button is shown fully depressed to its lowermost position. The positions illustrated in FIG. 5 are not normally encountered in customary methods of operation and are shown in FIG. 5 merely by way of illustration.

It will be noted that when valve 47 is manually depressed only partially, that is until the flange of button 60 is approximately in registry with slot 63, water from supply passage flows through valve chamber 15 and passage 41 to vertical bore 26 and thence to the discharge nozzle. This position of button 60 provides a fractional flow of water through the syringe and is usually the amount required for producing a satisfactory air-water spray. If the button 60 is fully depressed to a point where its flange is in alignment with lower slot 64, O-ring 57 moves into the enlarged lower portion of valve chamber 15, whereby water flows past O-ring 57 and through passage 40, whereby water is supplied to vertical bore 26 and nozzle 20 through both passages 40 and 41 and this represents maximum water delivery, which is usually desired when water only is being discharged, although the operator may discharge water only at any desired rate by pressing button 60 down to various positions between zero and maximum.

As previously mentioned, full air flow past valve 48 is established when button 61 is depressed until its lower edge abuts the rim of cup-shaped stop member 68 which corresponds to the partly-open position of valve 47. From this it will be seen that a user desiring an air-water spray merely depresses both of the buttons 60 and 61 simultaneously with the thumb or one finger on both buttons. This depression of both buttons will automatically be arrested when button 61 reaches its lower limit of movement at which time the button 60 and valve 47 will be in their half-way down positions which is proper for producing a normal air-water spray.

What is claimed is:

1. In a dental syringe, a body member having a discharge nozzle and water and air passages leading thereto, normally closed valve means in said passages, a pair of adjacent manually movable members connected to said valve means for opening the same, said water passage valve means movable member having a first position for fractional Water passage and a further position for full water passage, means limiting movement of said air valve means movable member to a range equal to the range of movement of said water passage valve means to said first water valve position, whereby joint manual operation of both movable members to the limit of air valve opening movement opens the water valve means fractionally to produce a properly proportioned air-water spray.

2. In a dental syringe, a body member having a discharge nozzle and water and air passages leading thereto, normally closed valve means in said passages, a pair of adjacent manually movable members connected to said valve means for opening the same, said Water passage valve means movable member having a first position for fractional water passage and a further position for full Water passage, means limiting movement of said air valve means movable member to a range equal to the range of movement of said water passage valve means to said first water valve position, whereby joint manual operation of both movable members to the limit of air valve opening movement opens the Water valve means fractionally to produce a properly proportioned air-Water spray, said body member having slots adjacent to said manually movable members and the latter having eccentric flange portions whereby rotation thereof engages said flange portions selectively in one or another of said slots to retain the valve means in predetermined open position.

3. In a dental syringe, a water passage and an air passage and normally closed valve means in said passages, pir of adjacent manually depressible push buttons connected to said valve means and adapted to be separately or jointly depressed by an operator to selectively open the same, said Water passage valve push button being depressible to various positions for variable Water flow through said syringe stop means limiting depressing movement of said air fiow push button for full air flow through said air passage to a fraction of the full range of depressing movement of said water valve means push button, whereby joint depression of both push buttons to the limit of air valve means opening movement opens the Water valve means only fractionally to produce a properly proportioned air-water spray and a dischange nozzle leading jointly from saicl water and air passages.

4. In a dental syringe, a body member having a discharge nozzle, a water passage and an air passage leading to said discharge nozzle, and normally closed valves in said passages, a pair of adjacent manually depressible push buttons adapted to be separately or jointly depressed by an operator and connected to said valve means to selectively open the same, said water passage valve push button being depressible to various positions for variable water flow through said syringe, stop means limiting depressing movement of said air fiow push button for full air fiow through said air passage to a fraction of the full range of depressing movement of said Water valve push button, whereby joint depression of both push buttons to the limit of air valve opening movement opens the water valve only fractionally to produce a properly proportioned air-water spray.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 807,243 12/1905 Chapin 251- 2,052,622 9/1936 Hale 239-4164 2,757,667 8/1956 Bronk 128173 3,054,402 9/1962 Franwick et al 128-229 RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

K. L. HOWELL, Assistant Examiner. 

